The present invention relates to a system for programming training on exercise apparatus.
In particular, the system disclosed can be used to advantage in sportrecreational structures such as gymnasiums, fitness centers, sports clubs, rehabilitation centers, clinics and similar locations.
In such structures (for the purpose of simplicity hereinafter referred to as gyms), users are supposed to perform a series of exercises or rehabilitative movements differentiated according to parameters relative to the type of training or rehabilitation, the user's physique and state of health, the objectives to be reached, etc.; in practice, a program of this kind defines a daily routine protocol which, in most cases, will vary in time in accordance with the athlete's achievements.
Each user or athlete is assigned a specific program to be followed during the various training sessions. The programs differ according to the number of exercises, the order in which they are to be performed, their repeatability, length and intensity.
To this end, at the gym, once the instructor has evaluated the athlete's physical characteristics and the objectives to be reached, he or she prepares an exercise "routine", clearly indicating to the athlete the way in which these exercises must be performed.
The resulting routine is the athlete's program, and is accompanied by a written schedule which the athlete must carry during training for the necessary consultation during performance of the exercises.
The programs normally prepared relate to lengthy periods of attendance at the gym and, in any case, cannot be altered upon each visit for obvious organizational reasons, so that, in brief, for each cycle the athlete substantially repeats the same exercises.
The program is generally set as a kind of average between the initial training stage (during which the athlete is more likely to be less trained) and the final result for each cycle.
For this reason, it is possible that during the initial stage the athlete trains more intensively than necessary, while during the final stage of each cycle, the exercises do not stretch the athlete's actual physical abilities to the full. With programs of this type it is, therefore, impossible to constantly correlate the intensity of the training and the athlete's actual condition.
This is of fundamental importance, since training which is hyper or hypo intensive may not be of use to the athlete and, in some cases, may even have negative consequences.
Exercise machines are currently available which are able to interact with feedback from the athlete relative to the latter's physiological parameters (e.g.: heart rate), varying the intensity of an exercise in accordance with the feedback. However, the repeated use of such machines does not provide identical results.
Moreover, there is no link between exercises performed on different machines, because it is impossible to compare the data relative to exercises performed on more than one machine.
At present, it is impossible to prepare a program for a series of exercises based on the athlete's actual reactions to the training, relative to the exercise and physical effort involved.
This is particularly true if considered in relation to the large number and variety of machines which the athlete has to use when following a routine protocol, passing from stations with cardiovascular machines (bikes, treadmills, steps) to those with isokinetic machines (benches, etc). In most gyms, these machines are all separate units in that there is no way of connecting them up, for example, in an interactive data network enabling them to communicate in real time with one another and with a server capable of recording and processing the data for the exercises completed and providing a report on the status of an individual user. Attempts have been made to achieve this sort of connection, using known networking techniques based on a central unit or server and peripheral units or personal computers. All these attempts envisage the establishment of a network of cables to physically connect all the machines concerned to one another, this solution, however, having proved decidedly unworkable considering the nature of the places of installation (gyms) and the fact that the machines to be connected are invariably scattered in all the furthest corners of the gym, not to mention that this type of connection is ill-adapted to gym machines and working conditions, network links being easily lost, as users of this kind of system well know.